News Reports and Articles

Fabio Zerpa says: "I'll never say if I met ET's face-to-face"

Fabio Zerpa - writer, lecturer, and media personality - is is one of the "grand old men" of South American ufology. This interview appeared on March 24th in Argentina's "Diario Los Andes"

Fabio Zerpa says: "I'll never say if I met ET's face-to-face"

Known all over the world for his research into the UFO phenomenon, the Uruguayan researcher who lives in Buenos Aires arrived in Mendoza today for a series of lectures and a seminar in Adolfo Calle auditorium to be held today, tomorrow and Thursday. This octogenarian is the author of 20 books and he believes that to die is to return home. To explain this phrase without knowing the person who uttered it would make it seem cliché or a pointless tautology, but Fabio Zerpa is coming to our province. He's here to offer a seminar with the title "To die is to return home" and this activity precedes the publication of his book "Fabio Zerpa Tiene Razon" (Fabio Zerpa is Right), laughing at the title, a witticism thought up by his publisher, Editorial Atlantida, which organizes the presentation within the framework of the forthcoming Buenos Aires Book Fair. "This book contains my entire life, with accounts from Mirtha Legrand, China Zorrilla, Horacio Ferrer, Alejandro Fantino, Andrés Calamaro and many other friends who outline each aspect of my life."

Now, with an enviable humor peppered with the idioms of the Tango scene, the man who devoted his entire life to UFO research speaks with Diario Los Andes.

Do the characters that appear in your forthcoming book discuss the various circumstances of your life, or are they restricted to your years in UFO research?

My entire life. For example, Horacio Ferrer discusses my childhood, because he's from Uruguay and into Tango, like me (Zerpa is a member of the National Tango Academy). China Zorrilla knew me in my teenage years. Mirtha gave me my very first big story, when dealing with extraterrestrial life was still a hobby of mine. It was "Almorzando con las estrellas" (Lunch with the stars) in 1965, when I discussed the [UFO] subject publicly for the first time. And look here, I'm celebrating 50 years of doing it!!

[...]

How did you become so sure about the subject?

I'm an academic with an advanced degree, and therefore my training has been conventional. But fortunately, when I saw a UFO in 1959, I began to study the subject from a different paradigm: unconventional, occult, esoteric, which is as worthwhile as the conventional approach. I'm following the middle path. I studied it because I've always been a researcher and hadn't realized until I saw that UFO.

What was it you saw in 1959?

I was flying in an Argentinean Air Force craft along with a military pilot. We had taken off from the Morón Air Base. At 12:30 in mid-flight and in the vicinity of San Miguel, I saw a metallic object flying along, measuring some 150 meters long.

A block and a half long?

That's what the aviator calculated, but yes indeed. It was some fifteen hundred meters distant.

Were you already researching UFOs?

No. I was shooting a television series called "Condores de acero" (Steel Condors) for the old Channel 7. I played the role of a pilot who underwent different experiences. That day, the captain had invited me to go flying and at noon, at an altitude of 800 meters, he said to me: "Look at what's on your left." I looked, and saw that device beyond the airplane's tail: close-ended, metallic and completely silent. Wingless, propellerless, and without the exhaust gases that characterized the incipient space rocketry of that time. It flew slowly. It stopped at 1500 meters, didn't fall down, overcame the force of gravity, made a 60-degree turn and vanished toward northern Argentina. I turned my head and asked: "What is that?" and the captain replied: "A flying saucer."

Was it like the ones shown in movies?

It was a cigar-shaped craft. I was reminded at that instant of the Zeppelin I saw during my childhood, when it came to Rio de la Plata. That captain told me, ironically: "To some that's a flying saucer. To others it's a secret weapon." That sparked the researcher in me. The UFO impacted my awareness, and it changed my life."

Are there aliens in our world?

I'll never say if I have a contact experience, face to face, because if I say so, they'll think: "This guy's already talking to aliens and drinking coffee with them" and it's not true. This is a subject that sometimes drives people off the deep end. It's important to have considerable control. The word "extraterrestrial" doesn't mean "Martian", only beyond the terrestrial. What we're discussing are space travelers. Along with Dr. Jacques Vallée, who was an advisor for NASA's Mars Mapping Project, we started looking into ufology. I brought him to [Argentina] some 20 years ago and we researched together. It's important to be clear about the terminology - we're UFOlogists, not uufologists.

And what's the difference?

The UFOlogist studies and deals with UFOs.

Why isn't there an open and fluid contact with extraterrestrial beings if they're constantly visiting our planet?

They've shown a technology that is completely superior to what humanity possesses in 2009. UFOs - which have been around since since WWW 2 - haven't invaded us in 60 years when they could have ddone so with the technology at their disposal. If they were human, you just put [U.S. President] Bush in a saucer and we're good to go! (laughter).

But why isn't there an open contact, then?

I've lived in 18 countries and from my research I can tell you that there are several reasons that they don't contact us. First: we're not all that interesting to them. It's that simple: they come to the planet and do not wish to contact us. It's the same thing we do to African pygmies. We know they're there, but we don't contact them. You walk along San Martin Avenue and you don't try to contact everyone filing past you. Second: There are others who have come to study the planet and are looking for scientific contact (there are also those who engage in close encounters of the fourth kind - abducctions - that is, they bring people aboard their craft). Their interrest in the planet is scientific. They're here to study. The ones that interest me most are the ones who want to make gradual contact with us and show signs of a future contact in the 21st century.

Do you know people who've been abducted by aliens?

Over 500 people in the world have been. And there are scientists like Daniel Fry who have been aboard alien craft. Fry designed spacesuits. I met him in the United States.

Why does the scientific community deny all this?

That was then. Now, in the last 10 years, 85% of the world's scientists accept the presence of alien life on Earth.

And how does all this tie into the reasons for your presentation in Mendoza?

It's about the culture of the future and they [alleged aliens] practically live in the future. As Einstein said in 1952, UFOs exist but they're not space travelers - rather they're time traveelers. Space travelers, parallel worlds and time. Time is the dimension in which we can speak of eternity. "To die is to go home" was a study I've been doing since 1971 regarding past lives and the eternity of our spirit. I've made eleven thousand inquiries 18 different countries. Even Carl Sagan! (laughs)

You met him?

Of course! We shared our views with Sagan. The real Sagan is the one from "Contact"

Zerpa asks us to mention this, his voice cracking with emotion: "Mendoza has a very special place in my heart. In 1968, when I came to Condor, it was necessary to block off the street with two squad cars because the place was so full. It fills me with emotion because it's an acknowledgement to the work of one man. And that emotion is related to the childlike sense of wonder that I carry within me."